Week 7....Losing Momentum?

In the two weeks since the last blogspot my semester has kind of fallen apart. I got sick, and then had a migraine for 12 days and couldn't really go to class or write the way I wanted to. I had serious motivation issues and kind of felt like I was losing direction. Thankfully things started to look up this week and I have started to write again and I have plans to finally do my visitor studies this weekend. I'm nervous about not being able to finish the way I want to by the final deadline but hopefully I can maintain this new energy until then. My computer is also on its last legs and I need to get a new one, which is going to be a distraction over the next week or so until I can finally get a laptop that connects to the internet when I'm not at home. Other than that I'm excited to get into the poster sessions and get some feedback on my frankly terrible first draft!

Week 5...Making Progress!

This week my game plan is to get into the feedback from my advisors and use it to refine the sections that I have already completed. I've got somewhere between 10-15 individual sources that I'm going to be reading. I'll either use these to expand my literature review or I'll use in the rest of the sections. This next week is going to be really stressful because I have lot due but i'm going to try to compartmentalize and get small chunks of everything done everyday. Hopefully that means I'll have a bunch of completed assignments and midterms and no stress! At this point i'm still focusing on the RMSC and will probably be reaching out to Dr. Uzelmeier in the next few days with follow-up questions about the labels I'm talking about. Other than that I don't really have any updates!

Welcome Back!

After a month of getting discouraged and stressing about my case studies, I think I'm finally ready to get back into it. I think last semester I was doing way too much and not giving myself any breaks so when break finally rolled around I just completely stopped and wasn't ready to start back up again when January 13th rolled around. That being said I think I've made a little bit of progress over the last month and I kind of know the direction I'm going into. As of our class meeting on Thursday, I wasn't completely solid on what my second case study would be but now that I've had my board meeting I have a direction and lots of emails to send!

As of today I'm planning to use the RMSC and the Strong Museum of Play as my two case studies. I chose these two after some suggestion from my committee. They are both AAM accredited and they market to the same audience. Choosing two Rochester area museums to compare seems like a very achievable project to me and isn't too out of the scope of what I'm capable of with our time limit. I'm excited to get into it because that means I get to visit my favorite museums in the area very often over the next few weeks!

Getting started on writing the 8 pages was pretty terrible. I know Dr. Lent said that the first effort would be bad but right now I feel like i'm just typing word vomit but it still feels good to finally start writing.

Blog Post 7: Winter Break Goals

My winter break goals fall into two categories, more research and case studies. For the research part of my goals I will be taking a deep dive into the sources suggested to me by my advisors, as well as sources that I have found on my own. I am hoping that these sources will be able to get me to the point I want to be at when classes start back in January. I plan to read for at least 2 hours a day  during finals week, then I will evaluate the sources place in my project and then update my literature review to reflect any changes. I will rinse and repeat this process for throughout the rest of the winter break.

For the case studies I will be contacting Dr. Calvin Uzelmeier of the RMSC about the the exhibit labels I would like to talk about in my project. He introduced these labels to my Museum Education class as an example of good label copy and I want to evaluate them from the lens of my project. Because these labels are currently on display at the RMSC, I want to get into contact with Dr. U and make sure that I can use it as a case study, as well as get any background information that I can about the process to make them. I will also attempt to contact the writers of the LGBTQ Welcoming Guidelines to interview them and get a better understanding of the process the team went through to write and revise the guidelines. I will also see if I contact any of the people that they referenced for their language guidelines to learn more about their research. I plan to focus on this after the new year to allow for the people I am contacting to focus on the holidays and not feel pressured to respond to me during this busy time of the year.

My third goal is to actually take a break! Researching and making connections is important but they'll be pretty useless if I'm burnt out in January. If I don't get everything done that I want to during break then I'll make them my first priority for the beginning of the spring semester.

Blog Post 6- Topic Evolution

After going back to look at what I was cooking up in September I don't think my topic has changed all that much. In our original posts about potential ideas I said that for a language based thesis I wanted to look at how visitor experience is impacted by language in the museum and how language could be adjusted to be welcoming for the broadest swath of visitors. In my research and our most recent lit review my sources focused on language and power and meaning making in the museum. I feel like I've stayed true to my original idea while drilling down and thinking about what I want the end goal for this project to be.

I currently see myself offering recommendations for language use in the museum with my final submission and that may change as time goes on but I do like the direction my thesis is heading in. I'm hoping to strike a balance between linguistic concepts and museum theory to make the project relevant to both fields. I think my big next step is to decide on if I need to include a specific case study in the project and if so how would I do that? I'm thinking that it would be a group of museums in a city with a diverse population and I would spend winter break going to these museums and documenting their language use. It might be more achievable to do this in Rochester but if I do that I need to start making connections with institutions soon so they know what I'm trying to do and give me the okay on it.

Blog Post 5: Feelin Good!

Hey y'all, long time no see!

It's week 9 and progress is definitely being made. I have both my advisors locked in and I've started my story-board. Right now the story-board is just my research question and and some major topics i'm thinking of hitting on but its something!

I think for the first two weeks of my research I was spending too much time looking at language acquisition studies and discourse analysis studies and then I tried to mold my topic around that. I'm definitely branching out now after writing and revising my lit review. I feel like I have a much better idea of where my topic is going. I'm definitely going to focus less on language acquisition and more on language barriers, power structures, and communication through multiple modes. Within this I will be addressing the ways in which language use can alienate visitors. Two of these ways are high level language use and jargon in label copy, and the ways certain groups are talked about (i.e. are they being voyeuristic, oversimplifying, patronizing, paternalistic, or primitivist in any way). 

After meeting with my secondary advisor and doing my own research, I'm grounding my research in a socio-cultural direction and running with it. I need to do more research on things like code-switching, museum accessibility, and meta-discursive functions. Meta-discursive functions are basically how the language we use is interpreted by other people and then integrated.  An important part of meta-discursive functions is lexical indexing, meaning how we want people to interpret us through the way we speak. Focusing on these parts of linguistics will help me make my recommendations about language use changes that can happen in the museum. I'm excited for the next few weeks and the things I'm gonna learn in them! 

Revised Topic Draft and Citations!

Research Question:

How can museums use language to end visitor alienation and increase engagement?

In this project, I will be looking at how language use in society creates inside groups and establishes a social hierarchy and how this is reflected in museums. Many other types of organizations are already doing this, museums can too. AAM's LGBTQ+ Alliance is already making efforts to make museum language more inclusive for all people, this could be a great case-study on expanded language use in the museum[1]. It is my belief that changing or evolving language use in museums can help to stop alienation of visitors. It is important to create a broader insider group through the way we speak to our visitors. Currently there is a major gap in how museums communicate with their visitors and how visitors and the general public communicate with each other. This includes the languages that are prominent in the museum, as well as the different words that we use regularly, i.e. the slang you use with your friends. Can museums seize upon an opportunity to majorly impact language use and preservation in America today?

Recently, the International Council of Museums held a contentious vote on changing the definition of the museum; some important parts of this proposed definition for my project, “Museums are democratizing, inclusive and polyphonic spaces for critical dialogue about the pasts and the futures…safeguard diverse memories for future generations and guarantee equal rights and equal access to heritage for all people… and work in active partnership with and for diverse communities to collection, preserve, research, interpret, exhibit, and enhance understandings of the world.”[2]  Although this definition was not adopted at the 2019 conference, I think it is worthwhile to see how the language we use can help shift meaning for the visitors in this context.

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[1] Anshel, Nancy, Erin Bailey, Johanna Blume, James Burns, Wesley Chenault, Barbara Cohenstratyner, Heather Doggett, et al. 2016. “LGBTQ Alliance Welcoming Guidelines for Museums.” American Alliance of Museums.

[2] “ICOM Announces the Alternative Museum Definition That Will Be Subject to a Vote,” ICOM, accessed October 1, 2019, https://icom.museum/en/news/icom-announces-the-alternative-museum-definition-that-will-be-subject-to-a-vote/.

Resources:

1.     1. Anshel, Nancy, Erin Bailey, Johanna Blume, James Burns, Wesley Chenault, Barbara Cohenstratyner, Heather Doggett, et al. 2016. “LGBTQ Alliance Welcoming Guidelines for Museums.” American Alliance of Museums.

a.       This source is a great example of a museum language guide. It explains its target groups and goes in depth on word usage and how to respectfully address specific people. It provides no harsh judgement of the people it is targeted towards and tries to act as educationally as possible. 10/10 love this one.

2.     2. Eastaugh, Erik. “The Concept of a Linguistic Community.” University of Toronto Law Journal 69, no. 1 (Winter 2019): 117–58.

a.       This source is more on the legal side of language and tries to address how to define a linguistic community in reference to language-based laws and language preservation. One important aspect of this article is how it attempts to define the relationship between language and culture. Eastaugh emphasizes that just because you share a language with someone does not mean that you are participants in a shared “mono-culture”. This article got me thinking about language laws and rights in America; I’m not sure how helpful that will be for my project, but it’ll be interesting to learn about.

3.     3. Huong, Le Pham Hoai. “The More Knowledgeable Peer, Target Language Use, and Group Participation.” The Canadian Modern Language Review 64, no. 2 (December 2007): 333–54.

a.       This source was really great and will be really helpful for me. It talked a lot about educational concepts as they relate to language acquisition. This made me think about language development and progression in children. If museums already act as a secondary source for educational development for children, what are they doing and what more could they do for language acquisition? This doesn’t just apply to children, it is also useful to think about adults, especially adults learning a new language! The concept of the “zone of Proximal development” which deals with your language development and problem solving is interesting for language acquisition regardless of age.

4.    4.  “ICOM Announces the Alternative Museum Definition That Will Be Subject to a Vote.” n.d. ICOM. Accessed October 1, 2019. https://icom.museum/en/news/icom-announces-the-alternative-museum-definition-that-will-be-subject-to-a-vote/.

5.     5. Lee, Thomas, and Linh Cao. “Language Use in Family and Society.” English Journal 89, no. 1 (September 1999): 107–13. https://doi.org/10.2307/821364.

a.       This source is an ethnographic look at a Vietnamese family in America that takes a look at the role of language in families and how that affects their interactions with society. This article got me thinking about translation sources in museum’s because the family in the article speaks 4 languages at varying levels of proficiency that leads to a major communication gap between the older members and the younger members of the family. Is this something that the museum can address? Is it even something museum’s should care about?

6.     6. Reid, Robin. “Philology and Language Studies: Tolkien’s Use of English.” Tolkien Studies 13 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1353/tks.2016.0026.

a.       This source wasn’t all that helpful, it spoke about the specific aspects of Tolkien’s use of language and their literary impact which isn’t very useful for my purposes. Very interesting read if you’re interested in learning about the impact of Tolkien’s naming conventions though!

Blog Post 3: Language is Power

Research Question:
How can museums use language to end visitor alienation and increase engagement?

Changing or evolving language use in museums can help to stop alienation of visitors. It is important to create a broader insider group through the way we speak to our visitors. Currently there is a major gap in how museums communicate their visitors and how visitors and the general public communicate with each other. This includes the languages that are prominent in the museum, as well as the different slang and pop culture level words that we use regularly. If visitors don't feel welcome in our institutions, or can't understand what we're trying to say then we need to reevaluate how we communicate. 

Recently, the International Council of Museums held a contentious vote on changing the definition of the museum; the results of this vote were to postpone the conversation. The word "colonizer" proved too much for the conference attendees to bear and they did not look beyond the word into the meaning and message that the shift in definition would mean for the field. It is worthwhile to see how the language we use can help shift meaning for the visitors. I will be looking at how language use in society creates inside groups and establishes a social hierarchy and how this is reflected in museums. Many other types of organizations are already doing this, museums can too. AAM's LGBTQ+ Alliance is already making efforts to make museum language more inclusive for all people, I'm hoping to use this as a case study and expand on it beyond gender and family related language. 

Blog Post 2 - The age old question; is this cool enough?

Hello!

As I've been thinking about my thesis I found myself in a weird "is this idea cool enough" feedback loop that wasn't productive at all. I spent the last 3 weeks trying to get away from that to really focus on the things that I know I love and am interested in. So far I have three main ideas separated into three major topics, music, food and language.

Music and its impact on people has been something I've been interested in my whole life and i'm always trying to figure out ways to incorporate music into my life and my work. I feel like my idea for music is my weakest but here it goes anyway! If i were to choose this research area i'd like to research how music can be incorporated into museum engagement to enhance the visitor experience and expand their knowledge.

Food is obviously an important part of being alive and every culture has their own food traditions. Personal food traditions, intangible heritage, and how cultures can be embraced and maintained through food traditions is something I have done research on for my own culture and I'd love to expand on that and figure out how food can be incorporated into the museum/public history experience to preserve cultural heritage.

Language is also major and nearly everyone on Earth has language unless you've quite literally been raised by wolves. If I were to do this topic I would focus on how language use can impact visitor experience and I would try to explore ways that museums and other cultural institutions can adjust their language use so that they can be accepting and welcoming of the broadest swath of visitors. This would not only include educating staff on speaking to visitors but also expanding the languages offered in museum interpretation.

I really like all three of these ideas and would happily spend a year researching and writing about them but its almost decision time! I'm sure I'll be confident about my choice when I finally make it, but ask me again in a few weeks.

Blog Post #1: The beginning of the end

Hi! My name is Brie and I'm a fourth-year Museum Studies major with a minor on Sociology and
Anthropology and an immersion in Linguistic Anthropology. This class and the rest of the year are going to challenge me in ways I have never been challenged and I am very nervous but hopeful at the same time. I've had three amazing years to learn more about myself and what I want from my career. Although I currently feel more confused about my future than ever, I'm very proud of the experiences I have had and I'm excited to add my thesis process to this list of experiences.

I started off my work experience at RIT in the circulation department at the library. From there I moved on to the RIT Archives and the Bevier Gallery. I have also interned at the Strong National Museum of Play cataloging role-playing games and other toys and games. I loved this internship and it showed me that I want to be the person that works with collections and tells interesting stories about them through exhibit planning. This summer I interned at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum which was an adventure and a half and I loved every moment of it. I had the opportunity to work with multiple departments throughout the summer and see how each department functioned while also participating in a museum-wide move project. If I had to choose the thing I loved the most it would be rehousing objects. Rehousing helped me get a little bit more creative with my solutions and I'm very proud of some of the housings I made for the objects I worked on, especially the spacesuit I spent a few days on. I also got to see some plane moves and learned how to drive a forklift! I can't post any of the photos I took of any of the stuff I worked on but I do have some pics of the Apollo 50 Celebration, and some other summer moments! Feel free to ask about any of the stuff I worked on!

The Saturn V Rocket projected on the Washington Monument. This light show ran for 3 nights and on this night, which was the night of the anniversary, the show was synced up with the original first steps so that Neil Armstrong's boot print emerged at the same moment he first stepped onto the surface of the moon. I cried. 

The Discovery Shuttle at the Steven F. Udvar Hazy Center in Virginia. 

I had to wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when I was shadowing the Large Artifact team in the museum's construction zone. 

The other collections department interns (left to right; Madison, Kiera, and Jordan) and I. These warehouses are apart of the Paul E. Garber Facility in Maryland where about half of the museum's collection is located.